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Northern Cauca

By: Jonah Gindin—In the Name of Democracy, a project of Pueblos En Camino

Late on the night of December 18, Evo Morales became South America's first indigenous President. No less frightening for his detractors in the United States,, he is an open admirer of Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez. Evo is the most recent in a long line of left-leaning Presidents to be elected in Latin America, and with ten Presidential elections scheduled for 2006 there may be more to come. In Latin America the “dominoes” seem to be falling again. By this time next year, the political landscape could look very different.

Today, November 18th 2005, day 37 of the Freedom for Mother Earth struggle from the Japio Hacienda and from the other 15 haciendas in the Cauca Department, we are proud to annnounce our victory on behalf of the Colombian Popular Movement. The Government of President Uribe was forced to recognize the legitimacy and the strength of the indigenous and popular struggle, thanks to the presure of more than 10.000 people who fight for freedom from this corner of the planet called Cauca.

The Government had to take back what it had said about indigenous peoples owning too much land, that we are infiltrated by terrorists, that it would not negotiate under presure (a condition that applies only to unarmed civilians) and aknowledge the justice of our demands not only because of our actions but because of the solidarity expressed in Colombia and the World.

Here's a translation from the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado:

The Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado asks urgently for national and international solidarity. The Army has today indiscriminately bombed in Arenas Altas and Bajas. Ground troops have thrown grenades against the civilian population in this humanitarian zone. One of the grenades was thrown and hit Arlen Salas David, the coordinator of the humanitarian zone of Arenas Altas, who was working in the field. He is badly injured. A commission from the community left at 2pm to retrieve him. We are unsure if we will be able to save his life as he is very badly wounded. The indiscriminate bombings continue. We ask for urgent actions to guarantee the lives of the commission, 42 families of the humanitarian zone and the other families of Arenas, to avert a massacre.

The kids at National Planning have a view of the country that looks down from the commanding heights of the towers of 26th Street. Their view of the country used to be from the beltway that ringed Bogota. Later, when they opened their business consulting office, they discovered how the country looked from their private helicopters. There are some exceptions: a few come down to Sasaima on Sundays to play golf – of course, they only do so after they’ve called the local Battalion to ensure their security – and the vast majority have laundered their engineering degrees from Colombian universities with PhDs in economics from provincial gringo universities. They don’t understand anything other than figures. Figures, after all, are the only way to measure the value of everything in terms of money, which is in the end what is of interest to them. It is their specialty. They assume the world began on the day they put on their tie and, with their father’s (or their uncle’s) connections, signed their first contract. I say these boys have come to tell us that the land (and the concentration of land ownership) has ceased to make any economic sense.

Taxonomy upgrade extras:

Below is a note from the Regional Indigenous Organization of Cauca, translated by the UK Colombia Solidarity Campaign. It is on the ongoing land struggle in Cauca, where the government has escalated the violence dramatically in recent days.

TANKS USED AGAINST INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES IN EL JAPIO, COLOMBIA.
CRIC, 9 November 2005.

MORE THAN 500 TROOPS AND TANKS ATTACK DEFENSELESS COMMUNITIES IN EL JAPIO,
CAUCA.

Using the argument of not initiating talks with the indigenous communities
until they have left the 15 land holdings that they have liberated in El
Japio, Cauca, National Government has given the order that the communities

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The Price of Our Struggle: Individuals and Groups, using threats and dirty war, seek to silence us

Action Alert

Association of Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca (ACIN)

October 29, 2005

The Association of Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca (ACIN) –CXAB WALA KIWE, announces the following to national and international public opinion.

1. In the past several days, a wave of threats has fallen over various of our community members, leaders, and authorities. To us this translates to a clear message that there are those who seek to destabilize the process of the indigenous communities in the northern zone of the department of Cauca.

DECISION OF THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IN THE FACE OF LAWS THAT GO AGAINST MOTHER EARTH

June 24, 2005

The Indigenous Regional Council of Cauca (CRIC), the Association of Indigenous Authorities of Northern Cauca (ACIN CWAB WALA KIWE), and the Environmental Economic Authority, in the face of the legislative bills on Waters, Forestry and Mountains that is being processed by the Fifth Commission of the Senate of the Republic,